


M41.284 When The Black Dog Growls

by Sister of Silence (EmpressofMankind)



Series: Aegis of Atonement [7]
Category: Warhammer - All Media Types, Warhammer 40.000, Warhammer 40k (Novels) - Various Authors
Genre: Depressing, F/M, LGBTQ Character, M/M, relationship drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-11-01 09:29:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17864819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpressofMankind/pseuds/Sister%20of%20Silence
Summary: Gregor was trying to work but Titus insisted he come to see something the latter saw on the news and thought might interest him. The second Gregor saw what it was about, his spirits hit rock bottom and then dug themselves a little deeper into a miserable little hole.





	M41.284 When The Black Dog Growls

Rain pattered on the window. It was light, still, but it wouldn’t be for much longer. My data-stylus scratched across the slate I was writing on. The vidscreen was on in the background. Sports, by the sound of it. I was trying to work.

The sound changed. Commercials. It changed several more times before it stopped. News of some sort. The lady reporter sounded overly excited.

“Greg…”

I tried to finish the sentence I was writing. The case report was late, I was behind.

“Hey, Greg!”

I sighed and put my data-stylus down. I leaned back in my seat and stared at the ceiling. “I am trying to work, Titus.”

“Come check this out.”

I didn’t want to but something in his tone made me get up. I rose and crossed the distance from my study area to the living room. Titus sprawled across the only couch, one leg over the armrest and the other across the back. He was still in his underwear. He gestured at the vidscreen. “Isn’t she that chick you some times bang?”

I scowled at his words and had meant to rebuke his choice of them when the vidcaster changed. It’d been showing a wide shot of what was clearly the Cathedral of His Eternal Light on Holy Terra. Even if the Antethorian Revival style of its facade hadn’t been obvious, the warm radiance glinting off the golden finials of the Imperial Palace in the distance most certainly was. But now the vidcaster zoomed to its grand steps and the couple standing there. He was tall, well-built and not bad looking. And, yes, she was indeed Genevieve. By the look of their attire, they’d just gotten married.

“When was this?” I asked.

Titus glanced in my direction. “It’s live.”

The crowd broke into ear-splitting cheering when he kissed her with unnecessary theatrics. The reporter about lost it, her voice skipping entire octaves up as she delivered the news.

“That’s her right?” Titus. I pulled my gaze away and looked at him.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Well, that’s a thing of the past, then,” he said as he turned his attention back to the vidscreen. “I wouldn’t mess with that one unless you enjoy the prospect of being slow-roasted to death.”

I looked back at the vidscreen too. The man drew a complete blank on me. Admittedly, I never paid much attention to our colleagues their goings-on. Not like Titus and Genevieve do, anyway. Genevieve. She looked nice. The ivory and gold suited her. The flaring Aquila-wing motif at the shoulders gave the impression she had small, golden, cherub wings. It occurred to me that was probably intentional.

“You don’t know who that is, do you?” I glanced at Titus, who was looking up at me. No, I didn’t.

“You need to get out more, Gregor,” Titus continued, evidently amused by the entire situation. “That’s the Lord Protector of the Formosa sector, Tomàs de Torquemada-Coteaz. Former Crusader and one of the sitting High Lords of the Iron Wheel. And, as of this week, a Lord Inquisitor. Of the Ordo _Malleus_.”

And that wasn’t even the worst of it yet.

“A whole lot of people consider him a shoo-in for Helbrecht if the old Templar ever vacates his seat on the Senatorum Imperialis,” Titus finished, looking rather pleased with himself.

That was a name I knew. Baldwin Helbrecht. “Lord Malleus Solar.”

“I am glad, Gregor, you at least know who among our colleagues sit their righteous asses among the High Lords of Terra,” Titus chuckled. “You _do_ know the others, right?”

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Forcefully. “Helena Constantia Drakulich, Ordo Hereticus, and our own Emil Darkhammer,” I humoured him.

Titus crooked an eyebrow, barely containing his grin. “You, of all people, I’d have thought would remember our dearest Inquisitorial Representative, Vallerie Desjardin.”

For an entire heartbeat skewering him with my mind seemed like a good idea. I didn’t, of course. “Yes, and Desjardin. Ordo Malleus as well.”

“The-Emperor-knows-how, but yes,” Titus replied as he turned his attention back to the vidscreen. “He and Darkhammer are going to get on right fine and we’re all going to rue the day we loaned the wrong tome from the Ordo library. At least Coteaz can’t stand Desjardin.” He waved a hand half-heartedly at the vidscreen. “Which is clearly not an all-women thing. I wonder what’s up with that? Desjardin is pretty popular among hammer-wielders of every stripe.” He mused on but it had bogged down into particulars about our colleagues that I didn’t care about. I didn’t think he was talking to me any longer, anyway. 

The vidcaster was taking its time covering the mind-boggling scope of the procession that followed the Inquisitors from the Cathedral before returning to the newlyweds. I smiled when Genevieve unapologetically hitched up her long skirts and climbed onto the horse herself, then draped them about herself and the animal’s hindquarters with the ease of practice. She rarely wore conventional dresses but she’d always favoured riding skirts out in the country. The horse shone in the rare sunlight as if cast from gold. It was real enough though, so they must have done something to its coat.

“You know, Greg,” Titus chuckled. “She aims any higher, she’d be marrying the Emperor Himself.” Something must have shown in my expression despite its paralysis, for he sat up on his knees and reached for me over the back of the couch. “Why the long face, huh? Was she that amazing?”

I looked at the vidscreen for a long moment. She seemed to be enjoying herself. She was smiling. I remembered that smile well. She looked happy. I glanced back at Titus, his expression wry.

“No.”

“There you have it,” he grinned once more and pressed a kiss against my lips before flopping down onto the couch again. “Nothing lost!”

I turned back to my desk, my slate and data-stylus where I’d left them. It was raining still. It’d be dark soon. I glanced at the vidscreen as I sat down. She looked happy.

**Author's Note:**

> A lot of time and hard work went into the creation and publication of this story and as such, it is very dear to me. I would love to hear what you thought of it! And please, share this story freely but credit me and link back to me. Thank you!


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